Sony announces four new HD-ready receivers
By Donald Melanson 
posted Feb 27th 2007 1:30PM
posted Feb 27th 2007 1:30PM
Sony looks to be bringing its HD-ready A/V receivers into slightly more affordable territory, today introducing four new models that all come in under the $500 mark. The top-end of the lot is the 7.1 channel STR-DG910 receiver, which will give you 110 watts of power per channel and HDMI pass-through with full 1080p resolution. Moving down the line, the $400 STR-DG810 and $300 STR-DG710 (pictured here) also support full 1080p HDMI pass-through, but take things back to 6.1 channels and 110 watts and 105 watts per channel, respectively. Otherwise, the three receivers pack many of the same features, including Sony's new Digital Media Port, support for XM Connect-and-Play, and Sony's BRAVIA Theater Sync, which'll ensure that they play nice with compatible Sony TVs and Blu-ray players. Rounding out the lineup, the low-end STR-DG510 offers 6.1 channels with 100 watts apiece and will only pass-through HDMI signals at 1080i resolution, although it'll also only set you back $200. Look for all four receivers to roll out in March and April.
Can someone explain to me what is the point of "HDMI pass-through"? Under what circumstances would I want use an HDMI cable to plug my HDDVD player to the a/v receiver, and route another HDMI cable back to the TV? I currently plug the HDMI cable from my HDDVD player directly into the TV, and plug a separate (digitial) audio cable into the a/v receiver. Works great. If the a/v receiver would accept high-def audio through the HDMI cable then I could understand routing video through the a/v receiver too (since the HDMI cable carries both), but then it wouldn't be "HDMI pass-through" anymore. I thought the whole point of HDMI was to pass both audio and video (and add the security stuff), but when using it as a "pass-through" then it's only being used for video. In the a/v receiver described above, what is the intended mechanism for getting high-def audio from the HDDVD player to the a/v receiver?
I'm pretty sure the pass-through just refers to the fact that it doesn't do any up-conversion on lower resolutions and that it is able to "handle 1080p". The digital signal for sound is still fed to the receiver. It would also be helpful for people that only have one hdmi input on their TV.
Goose said that:
"The digital signal for sound is still fed to the receiver."
Do you mean that the digital signal is fed to the receiver via the HDMI cable, or via the separate digital audio cable (either coax or optical)? (Or perhaps via several analog PCM RCA cables?)
In other words, can you pass compressed digital audio via the HDMI cable and the receiver will decode it? If so, then does the receiver decompress the high-def audio formats on high-def DVDs?
HDMI pass-through is just that: it allows the signal carried on the HDMI cable to pass through untouched to the TV; it doesn't do any processing of the sound so no LPCM audio over HDMI (as sent by BR and HD DVD players). You will have to run either an optical or coaxial cable for digital sound. Completely pointless but as evidenced by engadget's report calling them HD-Ready it accomplishes the goal of fooling the unsuspecting consumer who expects to get sound via HDMI. Typical Sony double-speak.
HDMI pass through allows the receiver to deal with the audio. It's the whole reason HDMI was developed to begin with.....carry everything on one cord.
a thread at avsforum.com explains it a bit:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=722360
only HDMI ver. 1.3 is capable of sound and video. HARDLY anyThing out there has HDMI 1.3 yet and it comes with premium. to truly enjoy 1080p/60f/120Hz and sound your TV must have 1.3 port - anyThing less is not 1080p [close, but not 100%], 1.1/1.2 cables and ports are not sufficient for it
no, y'all are all wrong....pass-through simply means that the sound and video both pass through the receiver, you still have to run an audio cable from your tv back to your receiver. if you don't believe me, go buy one. i made that mistake and took it back on the same day...to get a receiver that isn't just pass-through you will spend a minimum of about $700
If you go read the original Sony press release on Sony's web site, it (unlike this Engadget article) clearly states that the 710/810/910 support audio over HDMI. 510 - probably not, like some older Sony receivers that are pass-through only.
HDMI 1.3 is *not* necessary for sound/1080p video. It's needed for decoding some of the newer audio formats in the receiver, but that's not necessary if your Blu-ray/HD-DVD player has the decoders for those formats, you just decode in the player instead.
I started to read the comments above and I really got more confused. I have a Playstation 3 and a Sony Bravia Full HD (1080p).
I need to buy a receiver (that suports full HD, if possible that also upscale the DVD from PS3 and my Cable TV Box), that supports LinearPCM 5.1 from PS3.
I really need some help, what should I buy, is there a receiver that really, really does that?
PS. I need also some regular/good speakers 5.1 for that set. HELP ME! Is the Kef 5.1 set good?